Crystal ball: Which ’13 postseason darling comes out looking better in ’14, the Warriors or the Grizzlies?

Steve Aschburner, NBA.com: Golden State. Memphis has more work to do, notably settling its coaching situation – let Lionel Hollins leave at your own risk, Grizz! – and adding shooters. With enough duct tape, baling wire and prayer, Mike Miller might be a good start. But Golden State needs only to take the surgical route, the way it did adding Carl Landry and Jarrett Jack. Mark Jackson‘s ministrations seem to click with his guys, and having both Andrew Bogut and David Lee healthy (unless Lee winds up elsewhere) could leap-frog the Warriors past Memphis.

Fran Blinebury, NBA.com: Two questions: Are Curry and Bogut healthy for Warriors? Is Hollins back with the Grizzlies? Based on their track records, I’d have to assume Curry and Bogut will miss time and it will be costly. I’ll assume Memphis’ front office isn’t dumb enough to let the best coach in franchise history walk out the door. So Hollins will keep the Memphis defense grinding on.Edge to Grizzlies.

Jeff Caplan, NBA.com: Wow, there are so many variables at work here like who’s coaching the Grizzlies? If it’s not Lionel Hollins I really wonder what the fate of Zach Randolph will be. Memphis could be facing at an interesting transition if Hollins is not retained. My take is the majority of the players really love him, especially Mike Conley. At this very moment, there’s more continuity with the Warriors. The big question for that bunch is the ability of Andrew Bogut and Steph Curry to remain healthy. So judging this thing on May 29, give me the Warriors.

Stephen Curry (Noah Graham/NBAE)

Scott Howard-Cooper, NBA.com: It’s very tough to say without knowing what happens in free agency — two important players (Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry) hit the open market for the Warriors while one important player (Tony Allen) and the coach (Lionel Hollins) for the Grizzlies. But for the sake of discussion, if you want to say based on the rosters of the moment staying in place, I’ll go Grizz. While Golden State has the youth that signals it will be better in the long term, Memphis of 2013-14 will defend and rebound at the highest levels, will be able to depend more on its best players (as I jinx Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Mike Conley and Allen into injuries) and now have the confidence that comes with reaching a conference final.

John Schuhmann, NBA.com: Great question. I want to say it will be the Grizzlies, because I generally favor the better defensive team, and I think Memphis has a clear Achilles heel (perimeter shooting) that can be addressed in the offseason. But they also have some other (and significant) questions (fate of Hollins and Randolph) entering the summer and were the healthier team this season. If the Warriors can get close to a full season of Andrew Bogut, they can take another step forward defensively next year and possibly rank in the top 10 on both ends of the floor. So I guess my answer is Golden State.

Sekou Smith, NBA.com: My gut says Grizzlies but my head tells me the Warriors are better positioned heading into the 2013-14 season. So much of this depends on what the Grizzlies do with Lionel Hollins. Changing coaches on a team good enough to make the Western Conference finals would have a significant impact on what that team is capable of in the next season, particularly without any major roster changes. The Grizzlies’ core will remain intact for another season, barring any offseason surprises. The Warriors, on the other hand, have a higher ceiling for next season and potentially beyond. And Mark Jackson isn’t going anywhere. So they should be better team than the one we saw fall to the San Antonio Spurs if they just get all of their main contributors into training camp in good health. Both of their bandwagons should be full for next season.

Lang Whitaker, NBA.com’s All Ball blog: I still feel like Golden State is a season or two away from jumping into that next level of contender status, mostly because it’s going to be tough for the Warriors to make any significant changes until the summer of 2014, when they lose a couple of their heftier salaries. Memphis has its core, and if the Grizzlies can just find a consistent outside shooter to add to the mix for next season, they’re an even more dangerous team. Golden State might be better long-term with this crew, but for the immediate future, Memphis is nearly there.

Aldo Avinante, NBA Philippines:Both teams will certainly come back stronger and better but the main factor is their health. If Steph Curry’s ankles hold up the whole season, the Warriors will be battling for home-court advantage for the playoffs next year. Meanwhile, Memphis will hope that Zach Randolph will not regress and Marc Gasol will continue his growth as a player to have an even greater impact on the offensive end. With all that being said, I believe that Memphis will be a stronger team because of their depth and experience over the Warriors.

Pawel Weszka, NBA Africa: The Warriors. With so much youth and talent on their roster, I am not sure they have scratched the surface of future possibilities just yet. With David Lee healthy, Steph Curry ankle-problem free and more mature KlayThompson, Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli (yes, another African to watch!), they will be top challengers in the West. If they can add some more strength in the middle, they will be a much tougher team to beat. This young Golden State team knows they had a great season and pushed the extraordinary Spurs to their highest level. They know they are hot. Do the Grizzlies?

Stefanos Triantafyllos, NBA Greece:The easy guess would be the Warriors. They have a young, talented core (Curry, Thompson, Barnes, Lee, Bogut) and only one true piece of the puzzle that needs a new contract: Jarrett Jack. They’ve put a strong regular season, a deep playoff run and a proven ability to fight through adversity under their belt, all of which will serve as excellent lessons for next year’s run. Their biggest issue was injuries, so if they manage to stay healthy, they can turn into one of the most fascinating teams of the West. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, have to deal with the their coach first, as many teams will try to lure away Lionel Hollins, who is free this summer. That’s the big question mark next to their name, as their three key players (Conley, Randolph and Gasol) are under contract and they have the base to build on this year’s success (don’t forget they forced two very talented teams into early holidays). But, compared to the young Warriors they have less room for improvement. No doubt about that.

24 Comments

Both the Warriors and Grizzlies lack a proper leader to head a serious championship campaign. Curry just isn’t at that level yet, and Randolph wasn’t even able to hold his own in any of the four games against the Spurs. It also wouldn’t help Memphis if they are too budget conscious. They are known to trade their best players for more money. They sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers, who was then at his peak. Now they let go of Rudy Gay, their top scorer, and suffered big-time in the playoffs.

We traded Pau for the better Gasol and freed up the money to get Randolph…we suffered all the way to the best record in franchise history without Gay and made it to the WCF…we never won 1 series with Gay…try again

Warriors definitely because even though they started the season a little slow, they came back, and delivered blows to the Spurs, finding holes in their defense and offense, something that Memphis was not able to do. If they keep playing like this, then the Steph Curry and the Warriors will top them no doubt.

Just because the Spurs lost 2 games to Golden State is no reason to say they are better than the Grizzlies. Heck Golden State got swept by the Grizzlies in the regular season. Plus 3 of the 4 games the Grizzlies played against the Spurs were really close. It’s hard to tell the “what ifs” of next season but if they were to play in a best of 7 series with the same basic setup, I believe the Grizzlies would win in about 6 (Depending on Curry’s shooting.) I think the biggest problem with Golden State is their lack of a good C or a good, big P.F. The Grizzlies are just missing 1 or 2 outside scorers, which is a lot easier to pick up than a decent low post, inside scorer and decent defending C/P.F. I would say that within the next 6 years Golden State will most likely be miles ahead of the Grizzlies, but looking ahead to 2013-14 the Grizzlies will be the better team.

Man, the Warriors have Bogut and Lee, if they’re both healthy they’re at least as good as Gasol and Randolph!! Plus good luck trying to easily pick up shooters like Curry and Thompson! Even with Holins and all the players back next season the Grizzlies are not beating the healthy Warriors!!!

I think for Golden State all the pieces are at the very right place. In the playoffs there’s been an issue with injured PF David Lee, nevertheless he played home games and scored around 6-8 points a game. Andrew Bogut showed that he can compete with all the best centers in the league. On the bench there is Sixth Man Of The Year contender Jarret Jack and couple of solid players that don’t lower the level when they’re on the floor. Few minor changes plus keeping the future free agents and GSW will be fighting for home court next season.

Have you even watched GC play this year? D Lee was close to 20 10 every night at PF and Bogut holds down the middle on defence, Bogut needs to work on shooting a lot. But if he can shoot over 50% for 12 -15 pts Look Out. Go Warriors

why are these random questions being asked and blogged about? can we at least wait til the season starts and we see teams makin changes to their roster? talk about nothing to talk about so lets just talk about next season, lol

GSW>Grizz. Here’s the reason why…..MARK JACKSON…..Seems like every single comment has “Injury” in it for the Warriors…Need I remind you, that this team stepped up despite of all the injuries and were still winning. Basketball is a team game fellas and Mark Jackson knows how to coach and knows how to get the best out of his players. When 1 goes down, others step up.

GOLDEN STATE for sure!!they won 2 games against SAN ANTONIO and in the first game they did the impossible and lost that 16point lead in the final 4m or so…, even ginobili and others said the spurs didn´t deserve to win game 1!!while MEMPHIS were swept aside by the spurs!!the issue for GSW is health..with everybody healthy they are the better team right now and with much more room to improve than the grizzlies.

And Golden State was swept in the regular season by Memphis. The problem with your comments is that every team matches up differently. Paper beats Rock but that doesn’t mean scissor can beat rock since it can beat paper. I really don’t think G.S. can match up with Gasol and Randolph. Randolph will beat up David Lee in the low post and if they decide to put Bogut on him then Gasol will make Lee look foolish. Originally being from San Antonio and being a HUGE Spurs fan I just want to tell you that anybody who knows basketball was not worried about Golden State but some were a little concerned about Memphis. However if Curry can add a few things to his game and they can bring in a good big man (6-10′-7-1″) who can post up and score as well as defend, they will be a regular contender.

I’d take the Grizzlies because people keep saying that they can’t hold steph curry but the Grizzlies have swept the warriors the past 2 seasons with Steph Curry there. Now I’m not saying they’ll do it again, but it’d be dumb to not think they could.

Golden state is better than memphis. There a bunch of young guys that just want to improve and take it to the next level. No body takes Harrison Barnes into consideration, that kid is going to be something else next season and golden state if healthy will definitely be in the top seats in the west over Memphis, Denver, and the L.A Lakers

Win and lose more with the outside shot, Curry is amazing but cannot rely on that type of play 100% in the playoffs. Grizz I think are very over rated, the D San Anton put on them was impressive and D player of the year was flat footed as Tim Duncan ran by him consistently. Grizz need Curry done.

Any team of those 8 that made the playoff could make a deep run in the playoffs no one is the outsider.Golden state could improve a loot but never trust a jump shooting team.Memphis is in need of shooters and expensive ones but since they traded Rudy Gay i don’t think they have the cash to tweak their roster that much.I think they should be satisfied with what they done and they should be lucky to repeat the same success nest season,

Without knowing what either team does in the offseason in terms of trades, how is this even a valid question?

The unknowns for my team (GS) are huge: do we resign Jack, Landry? Those two alone make this question impossible. Grizz need to blow something up in my opinion. This is the best they’ve looked post-Gay and they didn’t even put up a fight against Spurs.